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Why Is Ashton Kutcher Dwolla's Newest Investor?

Posted on Apr 04, 2012

A recently named investor in a Des Moines-based startup brings not only money to the venture, but star power, too.

Ashton Kutcher, one of the stars of Two and a Half Men, and one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, has announced he is investing money and using his influence to get Dwolla going. Kutcher, who is an Iowa native, said he hopes the online payment system will be an effective alternative to credit cards.

Dwolla allows users to transfer money and make payments using a mobile phone or through the Internet.

The entire financial system is broke, and it's proving that every day, Kutcher said in an interview with The Des Moines Register. Fixing that makes me passionate.

The company and Kutcher did not reveal terms of the investment. Earlier this year, Dwolla executives said they had raised $5 million from five investment firms.

Kutcher is making the investment through A-Grade Investments, the company he has used to invest in 40 other technology startups. Those included big names such as Foursquare and Skype.

Dwolla is run by people who are not in the banking or payment industries. That will help make major paradigm shifts in the industry, said a payments processing expert at US Dataworks.